The Many Lives of Stygian

by _Moonshot

To Repeat

As Stygian followed the thin trail of fire, Philomena again perched on his shoulder, the large crowds of ponies began to thin out.

Slowly, groups of eight became groups of four, then groups of two, then lone ponies wandering in the approaching dusk. None seemed to notice the same trail Stygian did.

Eventually, Stygian looked up and hesitated. It seemed that the string was leading him into the Everfree Forest. Swallowing slowly, he readied himself and headed in.

“Let’s look out for each other, okay?” said Stygian.

Philomena cawed out something that sounded like affirmation.

Stygian cut through the underbrush, solely focusing his vision on the thread in front of him. He ignored the warbling and creaking around him.

In the distance, there was a screech.

Abandoning all caution, Stygian took off. “You fly ahead of me, Philomena. Go, go, go!” She complied, flapping her wings and taking off at maximum speed. Stygian watched as she weaved in between the trees and chased after her. It seemed he was still heading along the path that the thread had outlined for him.

Finally, he reached a clearing and exhaled sharply. There was an Ursa Minor, roaring and swiping its paws at Philomena, who was bending and swooping around it.

Near the two, a filly crouched behind a tree stump, her eyes filled with tears. Without a second thought, Stygian crossed the distance to her. “Hey, you’ve got to get out of here.” He gestured in the direction he came from. “Follow that path straight, and you’ll get back to Ponyville. We’ll take it from here.”

The filly nodded quickly and scampered away. The Ursa Minor paused its feud with Philomena to watch. Enraged, it turned its anger back on Philomena and Stygian, its roar shaking the trees surrounding it.

Stygian rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the bear’s paw hitting the ground. “Buck, buck, buck!” he called. “Aren’t Ursa Minors supposed to be dormant this time of year?”

Philomena cried something back that sounded vaguely like an ‘I don’t know,’ before flying out of the way from another swinging paw.

Stygian growled. “Well, whatever the reason, we’ve got to somehow—”

For the second time that day, Stygian wheezed as the air was pushed out from his lungs. He felt the bones in his body crunch sickeningly as the Ursa Minor’s paw made contact, and his vision went black.

But a few seconds later, he was back, fully healed, gasping for air. He saw the remnants of a fireball evaporating around him as the Ursa Minor withdrew its burnt paw and sent another bellowing roar through the forest.

His mind raced. “Philomena!” he shouted. “I’ve got a plan. Can you bait the Ursa as low as possible?”

From the sky, Philomena chirped a hasty ‘yes.’ She fanned, sending a couple flames at the bear, who roared again and snapped at her. She dove toward the earth in a circle as it chased after her. Stygian raced behind them.

As Philomena seemed destined to collide with the dirt, she flapped again and swooped high into the sky. Just before the Ursa Minor, head low to the ground, looked up in confusion, Stygian braced himself. Then he sprung off the ground as far as his hooves could propel him and jumped into the bear’s mouth.

Crunch.

Stygian felt the world explode around him. He screamed and screamed, writhing wildly before his vision went black again.

When he came to, he was falling back toward the ground. The Ursa Minor yowled, clutching its snout in pain. As Philomena came to a rest beside Stygian, the bear glared at them indignantly before turning tail and lumbering away into the depths of the Everfree.

Stygian took time to catch his breath. Panting, he looked at Philomena with a crooked smile. “If you were a pony, I would scoop you up and hug you. That… that worked!”

Philomena cocked her head and gave him a stone-faced look, as if to express how stupid she thought Stygian’s plan was and he was lucky it went alright.

Stygian’s grin grew wider, and he gave a staggering laugh. “Come on, don’t make that face. I’m tired, but… I feel alive. I am alive.” He looked toward the setting sun. “Celestia wanted this all along, didn’t she? She saw… she saw my destiny.”

Philomena nodded enthusiastically. She turned her head back toward the town.

Stygian’s breath caught in his lungs. There were more thin, fiery threads now. They fanned outward, pointing surgically like a line of arrows.

That meant more ponies that needed saving. So Stygian picked one and followed it.